Jennie Jacques
Born
OccupationActress
Years active2009–present

Jennie Jacques is an English actress. She is known for her roles in the BBC Two drama Desperate Romantics (2009),[2] the police procedural WPC 56 (2013–2014), and the History Channel series Vikings (2015–2019).

Early life

Jacques was born in Walsgrave Hospital and grew up in Coventry, Leamington Spa, and Warwick. She is the eldest of seven children.[3]

Career

Jacques made her television debut as Katie Fielding in an episode of the ITV police series The Bill. Her first major was as artists' model Annie Miller in the six-part BBC Two period drama Desperate Romantics (2009) about the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Jacques made her feature film debut as Beth in the urban thriller Cherry Tree Lane and Ree Ree in the futuristic thriller Shank.[4] Jacques has also appeared in Casualty on BBC1, where she played Lily Knowles, the carer of Megan Roach, in the episode "Nice and Easy Does It" broadcast on 7 August 2010.[citation needed]

In 2011, Jacques was featured in the promotional video for the Mason single Boadicea. She also appeared in slasher film Demons Never Die (2011), in which she appeared nude during a sex scene with Robert Sheehan.[citation needed] Jacques appeared in an episode of Father Brown in 2013, and was then cast as the lead actress in the BBC afternoon series WPC 56, about a woman police constable in the male-dominated world of 1956. Both programmes were made by BBC Birmingham.[citation needed]

Jacques portrays Judith, the fictional daughter of King Aelle, in the third through the fifth seasons of Vikings (2014–2019).[5] In 2015, she played the role of Tash in the ITV sitcom The Delivery Man (2015), which aired for six episodes.[6] In 2019, Jacques starred in the first series of the drama series London Kills, playing a homeless witness named Amber Saunders.[7]

Personal life

Jacques is an ambassador for the Open Medicine Foundation.[8] In a 2021 interview with The Sunday Times, she opened up about the ME/CFS and post-exertional malaise she developed after coming down with a severe bout of Epstein–Barr virus in early 2019. She had to put her career "on hold" as her condition affected her mobility.[9] She has also been an advocate for those living with epilepsy as inspired by her sister.[10]

In 2021, Jacques was engaged.[11]

Filmography

Film roles
Year Film Role Notes
2010 Shank Ree Ree
2010 Nocturn Nina Short film
2010 Cherry Tree Lane Beth
2011 Demons Never Die Jasmine [12]
2012 Truth or Dare Eleanor also known as Truth or Die in the United States
Television roles
Year Show Role Notes
2009 The Bill Katie Fielding Episodes: "Teenage Kicks, Part One & Two"
2009 Desperate Romantics Annie Miller Main role
2010 Lark Rise to Candleford Emily Mullins Episode #3.10
2010 Stanley Park Raggedy Ann Pilot for BBC Three
2010 Casualty Lily Knowles Episode: "Nice and Easy Does It"
2012 Love Life Tilly Television miniseries
2013 Father Brown Violet Parnassus Episode: "The Wrong Shape"
2013–2014 WPC 56 WPC Gina Dawson Main role (series 1–2)
2015–2019 Vikings Judith Recurring role (seasons 3–5)[5]
2015 The Delivery Man Tash Main role
2019 London Kills Amber Main role (series 1)[7]

References

  1. ^ "WPC 56 star: Who needs Hollywood when you've got Brum..." Birmingham Mail. 4 February 2014. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
  2. ^ "Desperate Romantics". desperateromantics.co.uk. Archived from the original on 19 April 2010. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  3. ^ "Coventry actress Jennie Jacques goes back to the 50s for BBC drama WPC 56". Coventry Telegraph. 25 April 2013.
  4. ^ "Film agency review". Archived from the original on 9 October 2007. Retrieved 15 August 2009.
  5. ^ a b "Manolo Cardona Joins Netflix's 'Narcos'; Jennie Jacques In History's 'Vikings'". Deadline Hollywood. 19 June 2014. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
  6. ^ "The Delivery Man". comedy.co.uk. Archived from the original on 19 April 2015. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  7. ^ a b Perigard, Mark (27 February 2019). "'London Kills' delivers bodies and little else". Boston Herald. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
  8. ^ "Jennie Jacques". Open Medicine Foundation. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  9. ^ O'Neill, Sean (18 August 2021). "Jennie Jacques on living with ME: 'I am a shadow of my former self physically'". The Times. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
  10. ^ "Viking actress Jennie Jacques discusses the impact of epilepsy". Epilepsy Society. 15 March 2020. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  11. ^ O'Neill, Sean. "Jennie Jacques on living with ME: 'I am a shadow of my former self physically'". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  12. ^ "Demons Never Die... But They Do Get A Cool Trailer". Dread Central. 3 September 2011.

External links